How come so many readers have an aversion to short stories?  Given that I occasionally have the short-term sound-byte attention span so typical to kiddies raised up on Pat Benator videos and Saturday morning cartoons, short stories are often just my speed--and that should be the case for others in my generation, too. But no.  Young, old, left, right, male, female...all kinds of folks flap away short story collections.  Too fleeting? Too experimental?  Too indulgent? Not satisfyingly chunky and stewy enough?  The best short stories aren't lazy one-offs or "works in progress" (hate that term), but tiny jewels that gleam with the gifts of the very best, most economic, most exacting and most talented writers--who know that one tiny moment, scene, image or setpiece can say or suggest as much as a 500-page epic.  QPBers have heard me wax rhapsodic about masterful short-stories from the likes of Yiyun Li and Alice Mattison (to say nothing of all-time greats like O Henry and Flannery O'Connor and...), and our latest reason to celebrate this underappreciated form is Deborah Eisenberg, whose Twilight of the Superheroes is one of the best reviewed  books of the year. Read it! Or tell me why you're reluctant to do so.